208 Birds of Pennsylvania. 



Family AMPELIDiE. Wax\vings. 



SUI5FAMII.Y AMPElJNiE. Waxwings. 



Genus AMPELIS. Linnaeus. 

 619. Ampelis cedrorum (Vieill.). 



Cedai' Waxu'ing.* 



Descbipiion. (Plate S9.) 



Heiui crestLHl ; general color reddish-olive, passing anteriorly on the neck, head 

 and breast into purplish-cinnamon, posteriorly on the upper parts into ash, on the 

 lower into yellow ; under tail coverts white ; chin dark sooty-black, fading insensi- 

 bly into the ground-color on the throat ; forehead, loral region, space below the eye 

 and a line above it on the side of the head, intense black ; quills and tail dark-plum- 

 bcous, passing behind into dusky ; the tail tipped witli yellow ; the primaries, ex- 

 cept the first, margined with hoary ; a white line on side of under jaw ; a narrow 

 white stripe bordering ))lack of forehead and lores ; lower eyelid white ; secondaries 

 sometimes tipped with horny and red sealing-wax-like appendages ; somespecimens 

 are occasionally seen with two or three tail feathers, tipped with red horny append- 

 ages. Young duller than adults, and streaked with brownish, especially on breast 

 and sides. Bill, blue-black ; legs black ; iris brown. Length about 7^ ; extent 

 about 12 inches. 



Hab. — North America at large, from fur countries southward. In winter south to 

 Guatemala and the West Indies. 



The Cedar or Cherry bird, as this species, is best known in Pennsyl- 

 vania, is an abundant resident. These birds, except in the breed- 

 ing time (from about the last of June to the first of August) — are 

 always found in flocks, which in many sections seem most numerous 

 in May and the first two weeks in June. The somewhat flat and 

 rather bulky nest, composed of small twigs, roots, grasses, bits of 

 string, feathers or other soft materials is built in trees in groves and 

 orchards, particularly apple orchards. The eggs, usually five in num- 

 ber, are dull bluish-gray spotted and blotched with black and brownish.. 

 They measure about .90 by .65 of an inch. Cedarbirds fly in com- 

 pact flocks, and when they alight huddle close together on the limbs 

 and twigs. They apparently prefer to light on dead branches of trees, 

 and in the spring or when they visit cherry trees, this habit is fre- 

 quently taken advantage of by the observing farmer, who fastens to a 

 long pole a dead branch, with numerous small twigs, and fixes it in 

 the fruit-tree, so that the entire branch will project above the tree 

 tops, then stationing himself nearby he can shoot the birds as they 

 alight without injuring with shot, the tree or its ripening fruit. Some 



* Dr. Coues I Birds of Colorado Valley) referring to the " sealiug-wax " appoiidasos of the sec- 

 ondary quills of birds of this genus, says they " have been subjected to chemical and microscop- 

 ical examinction by L. Stieda, and shown to be the enlarged, hardened and peculiarly modified 

 prolongation of the shaft Itself of the feather, composed of central and i)oripheral substances, 

 ditfenng in the shape of the pigment cells, which contsiin abundance of red and yellow coloring 

 matter." 



